Friday, March 11, 2011

Global Warming and Belief

In a recent paper by a fellow from New Hampshire regarding the "belief" in global warming, now I guess called climate change, whatever that means, he shows the following figure, as I have slightly modified it, which demonstrates education and political bent and belief.

Now what this portrays is "belief" in climate change being bad, as a function of years of education and by political party.

Now here is my first rub. Who cares about belief. You have freedom to practice whatever religion, belief, you want and I thought that the left did not want religion as part of the political argument. No one should care about a belief it it is a scientific verifiable and in a Popperian sense deniable fact. If it is a fact, then present data, open the debate, and seek the facts. Belief is useless. It is what macro economists use in their models. It is Romer and her unemployment data used to justify the first Stimulus package. Belief.

Thus I am not surprised to see some of the very same economists making hay with this "finding". Oh by the way, this was from the upper peninsula of Michigan, it is solid ice there guys, and he does have some New Hampshire data, well I tell you, give me a few more warm days, we still have a few feet of snow guys!